


That one time Dele Alli punched Trent Alexander-Arnold...

by begracefulindefeat (yoi99)



Series: The summer of the Three Lions [1]
Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: England AU, England National Football Team - Freeform, M/M, U21 - AU, three lions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-05-19 16:40:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19360741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoi99/pseuds/begracefulindefeat
Summary: Dele's smile freezes on the spot. He doesn't know if it's the remark about his messed-up family or the way he says his surname, as if it were a bad word, what makes him snap.But before he can stop himself, he's punched Trent, who now rolls over on the floor, covering his face with his hand.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> In case you missed it with so many tags, this is an AU in which the players are teenagers instead of grown-up (well, supposed to be grown-up) men. Here are the ages:  
> • 19 years old (1987 – 1990):  
> \- Fabian Delph  
> \- Jordan Henderson  
> \- Danny Rose  
> \- Kyle Walker  
> • 18 years old (1992 – 1993):  
> \- Jesse Lingard  
> \- Harry Kane  
> \- Harry Maguire  
> \- Ross Barkley  
> \- Jack Butland  
> • 17 years old (1994):  
> \- Eric Dier  
> \- Jordan Pickford  
> \- John Stones  
> \- Raheem Sterling  
> • 16 years old (1996 – 1997):  
> \- Dele Alli  
> \- Ben Chilwell  
> \- Joe Gomez  
> \- Marcus Rashford  
> • 15 years old (1998 – 2000):  
> \- Trent Alexander-Arnold  
> \- Declan Rice  
> \- Jadon Sancho  
> Plus, it's the last England squad (the one from the Nations League finals) minus Wilson, Keane and Heaton bc I needed them to be exactly 20 (my apologies to them for leaving them out).
> 
> I plan on making a Tumblr where you will be able to find more info about how the AU is set up but haven't gotten around to doing it just yet n.n'
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

"You are such a child Trent, go cry to your Mommy."

To Dele's defense, it's hard not to make fun of Trent when he is pouting and whining so much after losing a game of FIFA. He takes winning so seriously it's funny.

"Fuck off, at least I have one to go crying to, Alli."

Dele's smile freezes on the spot. He doesn't know if it's the remark about his messed-up family or the way he says his surname, as if it were a bad word, what makes him snap.

But before he can stop himself, he's punched Trent, who now rolls over on the floor, covering his face with his hand.

"Fuck you, Trent"

It's bitter and dark and Dele has never been so angry in his life. Henderson runs over and asks Trent if he is okay. The smaller lad just shakes his head over and over, holding his nose with one hand. Blood is dripping between his fingers. When Henderson forces him to move them away to examine the damage, Trent starts crying, whimpering about how much it hurts and how awful Dele is.

Gareth enters the room, somehow having heard the commotion and sends someone to get one of the medics, before grabbing Dele's arm and dragging him outside the room. Dele has never seen Gareth so angry as he tells him off for punching Trent in the face. At some point he tunes out, knowing where the lecture is going anyways. When Gareth finally lets him go, Harry appears out of the blue and practically repeats the same lecture. He looks really angry too and keeps emphasizing on how disappointed he is. Dele rolls his eyes.

"Whatever H, someone needed to shut Trent up."

That seems to only irritate the captain more because he mumbles 'you are unbelievable' before storming off. Dele realizes he has left his phone in the lounge and tries to go in unnoticed. Clearly, it doesn’t go as planned. He receives a few disapproving glares, and some of his teammates tell him he has gone too far, and he should apologize (even though Gareth forced him to before dragging him out of the room). Even Hendo, the less controversial person ever, arms still wrapped around a sobbing Trent, shakes his head and shoots him a death glare when he sees him.

Everything is so unfair he has to go outside to try and ease the anger boiling inside of him.

 

Eric finds him sitting in the middle of the training pitch, his knees glued to his chest. He sits down next to him, without saying anything. After a minute of quiet, Dele breaks the silence. 

"He started it, you know."

"You still can't go around punching people, Del. It's just not right."

Dele feels his cheeks warm-up in anger. He can ignore it when Gareth or Harry say it, but he can't believe Eric isn't on his side. Because, well, it’s Eric after all.

"He said I didn't have a family to go to." He hears his voice crack a bit and he fears he might cry. "And he called me Alli as if it was a bad name."

Eric sighs. He knows the family issue is Dele's softest spot, able to cloud his judgement within seconds. He also knows Dele will only tell this to him and would rather be continuously lectured on punching Trent than tell anybody how hurt he really is. And even if Eric still doesn’t understand why, he knows looking strong is a façade Dele needs in order not to crumble. 

"Trent's an ass when he wants to, Del. He really is. But you just can't go around punching people, because it'll only get you in trouble, okay? You and not Trent."

Dele just nods, not trusting his voice. Eric sits next to him in silence, wrapping an arm around him when he feels Dele's shoulders starting to shake.

 

Eventually, Trent stops crying, but he stays glued to Hendo's side all evening, glaring at Dele every time he gets close.

He spends the night in Jordan's room, doesn't leave his side during breakfast and has to practically be dragged away from him when Gareth puts them in opposite teams in practice next morning.

"Please Gareth, I'll be good, let me be with Hendo. Gareth, please," he repeats like a mantra.

"No, Trent. I'm not telling you again."

He pouts, crossing his arms and walking over to where his team is standing as if it were the most unfair punishment in the world. Dele rolls his eyes. 'Brat,' he thinks.

Trent has a bruise under his left eye where Dele punched him. On the side of his nose, a single paper stitch closes a small cut, a bit of bruising surrounding it. It doesn't look good, but it doesn't look that bad either. Dele thinks he needs to get over it.

Practice goes by normally enough: Dele doesn't feel like speaking to anyone and nobody seems to care. At some point during the training match, he tackles Chilly a bit too hard, making the left back fall face-first onto the floor. He quickly apologizes and helps him back up. Chilly smiles reassuringly, telling him it's fine, but from the corner of his eye he can see Maguire and Harry look at him disapprovingly. Gareth doesn't look pleased either.

Dele has to bite his lip to avoid screaming in frustration.

 

Hendo loves Trent, he really does. But after a day of having the right-back stuck by his side like a strained puppy, he needs a break. Luckily, Trent has fallen asleep somewhere around the lounge and Jordan can find some time to spare for himself. He sits down on an empty armchair and pulls out his phone, hoping he can be alone for a bit.

Obviously, it's too much to ask for.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He turns to face Eric Dier. Eric is cool, in Jordan's opinion, mostly calm and collected on and off the field and minding his own business. Plus, he is the only person able to keep Dele in line.

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's about yesterday," Eric points out.

And Hendo is about to say 'no, I don't want to talk about it’ but Eric is Dele's closest friend and he might as well have another side to the story rather than Trent's teary filled 'he is the worst Hendo, he just punched me'.

"Tell Del not to punch people for me, please."

"Well, yeah about that…" Eric hesitates for a second, sitting down next to Jordan. "You don't know how it all came down, do you?"

"Dele punched Trent, Eric. There's not much to know about it."

"You know as well as me that Del doesn't just snap like that." Hendo stays quiet. "Trent kind of stepped over the line there, and while Dele can't go punching people, Trent needs to learn to keep his mouth shut."

Jordan simply nods, knowing well what Eric is talking about.

The younger lad takes a deep breath. "You know about the whole deal with Dele's family, don't you?" Jordan nods again. Everyone knows, but no one brings it up, it would be unfair to Dele. "Well Trent decided that it would make of a great insult." 

He doesn't need to hear more about it. The whole thing fits, Trent being an arse and later acting as if the world was against him. Hendo loves him to death, but he can be such a handful sometimes.

"God, I can't believe he'd do that. I'm so sorry, Eric. I'll talk to Trent."

"Thanks, Hendo, I knew I could count on you."

Eric stands up, patting Jordan on the back and leaving him alone in his misery.

 

As soon as he wakes up, Trent goes over to where Jordan is sitting, plopping down on his lap. The older lad sighs, softly pushing Trent off, which earns him a whine.

"Hendooo," he complains, dragging the o.

"Just a second okay, I need to talk to you about something."

Trent must know what's coming because he sits down, arms crossed, and pouts.

"It's about Dele."

The younger boy raises his eyebrows. "What about it? He punched me in the face, Hendo."

He says it with such a heartbroken look, Jordan is tempted to let it go.

"Well, I was wondering if you might have done something to trigger that punch."

Trent frowns, looking down-right offended. "Are you saying this is my fault? He _punched me in the face!_ "

"I'm not saying it's your fault, and there's no excuse for punching you. But…"

"I didn't do anything Hendo, and it's not fair of you to accuse me of that."

Jordan has to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Talking to Trent can be more exhausting than playing a full match.

"That's not what I've heard."

That does the trick and, like always, Trent's pout turns into that childish anger of his.

"That's not what you've heard? What you've heard from who? Dele?" He scoffs, as if he can't believe what he is hearing.

"Eric."

"Same person, different color."

Jordan chuckles at that but tries to keep a straight face. “I'm serious, Trent."

"So am I!" He whines. "I can't believe you'd take Eric's word before mine!"

There he is, Trent's famous: 'the world is against me' argument, that he tends to use when he knows he has basically lost the fight. "Trent," Jordan insists, more sternly this time.

"I did nothing!"

"Okay," Jordan says, standing up. "When you are ready to accept your mistakes, you know where to find me."

Trent looks shocked as he starts to walk away. The reaction is instant.

"Hendo don't go, wait!"

He turns around, expectantly. Trent is blushing, looking down at his feet.

"I might have said something."

"Go on then."

"I wasn't serious."

"Okay."

"But Dele just snapped and punched me and no matter what I said he didn't have any right to do that!"

"Get to the point, Trent."

"Well, I… might have insulted him a bit? But it was nothing serious and-"

Hendo cuts him off. " _Trent."_

The right-back bites his lip shyly and mutters something under his breath.

"Sorry, couldn't quite catch that," Jordan says, rising an eyebrow.

Trent's cheeks go a deeper shade of red. "I told Dele he didn't have a Mom to go crying to… and called him Alli in a not-very-nice way…"

And okay, Eric had told him, and he knew Trent mush have had done something really serious to make Dele snap like that, but the words are so poisonous and cruel, he can't help the bubble of anger that rises in his stomach.

He takes a deep breath, knowing Trent will make a fuss if he shouts.

"That's just mean, Trent. Really mean."

"Well, yeah but he was making fun of me first…"

"I can't believe you would say something like that," Jordan carries on, shaking his head. "What happened to be graceful in defeat, huh?"

"It wasn't losing what pissed me off, just the way he was making fun of me!"

"I don't want to hear it, Trent," he snaps, making the younger lad flinch. "We're going to go to dinner, and you are going to apologize to Dele."

Trent's head snaps up. "No way! He punched me, Hendo!"

"If I were Dele, I would have punched you too." Trent looks at him as if he had just kicked him in the gut. "I can come with you to apologize, but I don't want any more clinginess until I hear a proper apologize to Dele."

Trent opens his mouth to protest, but Hendo knows he won't dare. Even though everyone is practically on his side on this, Trent hates disappointing him more than he hates losing.

  

"Dele," the midfielder looks up from his plate, his eyes drifting from Jordan to Trent, who is clutching the Liverpool captain’s arm for dear life. "Trent has something he wants to say."

Dele puts his spoon down and turns to face them. "Go ahead."

Trent is biting his lip and looks up at Jordan for reassurance. He nods encouragingly.

The young defender sighs. "I want to apologize for saying those things about your family, it was mean and I'm sorry."

It comes a bit more fake than Jordan would have wanted, but Trent apologizing for something is already a huge step, so he doesn't give it much of a thought.

"Okay," Dele simply says.

To be fair, Gareth had practically dragged Dele by his ear yesterday and forced him to come up with a not very convincing apology for punching Trent. Trent being Trent had just scoffed, but, mumbled 'it's okay' after Hendo elbowed him softly.

He didn't know why he thought Dele would be any different and, to be completely honest, he kind of understands why the Spurs' midfielder isn't eager to forgive Trent. 

"What do you mean, okay?"

"I mean okay, what else am I supposed to say? I already apologized, I'm not doing it again."

Trent frowns and stays quiet for a second.

"I take it back."

"What?" Dele asks, eyebrows raised.

"What?" Jordan repeats, unable to stop himself.

"I said I take it back," Trent says again, a bit louder than before. "If Dele doesn't apologize neither will I."

Del blinks in surprise, while Jordan rubs his eyes in exhaustion.

"I apologized yesterday."

"Because Gareth made you, it doesn't count."

"You are apologizing because Hendo made you."

That shuts Trent up and for a second Hendo thinks it's over.

"Fuck off, Dele."

"Gladly."

Trent turns away and storms out of the canteen. Jordan sighs, not even knowing what is happening or what to do anymore

He turns to Dele. "You know, I get that you are upset about what Trent said and I get why you did what you did… but for God's sake Dele can't you be the grown up and take one for the team?"

"And baby him so he thinks he can get away with anything? Like you always do? No, thanks."

Jordan should have seen it coming. Dele is as stubborn as Trent, if not more. 

"You punched him Dele, I think that was more than enough to let him know he can't go around doing whatever he wants."

"And I shouldn't have punched him, but I'll only apologize properly when I feel like he actually regrets it, because then I'll actually regret it myself."

And Jordan thinks it makes sense, but the whole conversation is giving him a headache, so he just scoffs at Dele and goes to have dinner.

  

"Do you want to play FIFA?"

Dele has to admit it, the request surprises him because everyone seems to be punishing him for punching Trent (except Eric, of course, and surprisingly Hendo who has become a bit nicer). John, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care.

"You sure you are not scared I'll punch you?"

"If you punch me, I'll just punch you back," the defender replies nonchalantly.

That's definitely enough of a good answer to Dele, who nods and lets John help him up.

It's during their 4th game when John brings the subject up.

"So, why did you punch him?"

Dele doesn't answer, focusing on his game. He doesn't want to talk about it anymore, he is sick of people never forgetting his mistakes.

"I mean, I would probably have too. Kid is a pain in the arse sometimes."

And he doesn't know what it is, but John's unusual kindness and the fact that he is the only person that has talked to him all day besides Eric and Hendo makes him feel like he should at least tell him his side.

"Used my family as an insult."

He can feel John's blue eyes set on him, and he is suddenly worried he will say something inappropriate and he won't be able to control himself.

"Why? The Hickfords are great, no one could use them as an insult."

And it takes all Dele's got not to jump on John and hug him. Thankfully, he doesn’t (that would have been embarrassing). Still, a small smile manages to escape his lips.

 

Henderson shows up in Dele's room with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Dele raises his eyebrows.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ross asks, not trying to cover up his annoyance with all the coming and going from the recent days.

Hendo puts his backpack in Trent's bunk. "Trent refuses to sleep with Dele," he says simply, shrugging. "But he kicks and moves around a lot in his sleep so I'm not sharing a bed with him again any time soon. Therefore, we are switching until they figure their things out."

He eyes Dele, who just rolls his eyes and goes back to his phone.

The answer seems to be enough for Ross because he looks at Henderson and proceeds to go back to his business. Jack comes in a few minutes later. He stares at Hendo in confusion for a second but doesn't say anything.

Even though Gareth had insisted not to mess with the room distribution and everyone wanted to switch rooms for one reason or another, no one particularly cares about Hendo switching spots with Trent. Hendo is just one of those people who are impossible to dislike.

Of course, Harry doesn't agree.

There's a knock on the door that makes Ross groan in frustration. Jack goes to open and Hendo looks up from his phone, while Dele's eyes stay glued to the screen.

On the other side of the door, Harry has to practically physically prevent Trent from running away.

"Can I speak to Jordan, please?"

Jack turns to Hendo, who sighs. "Yeah, Harry?"

"Can you come down for a second? I want to talk to you in private."

Jordan groans, as irritating as Trent and Dele can get, Harry can be so dense sometimes it makes him want to slam his head into a wall.

"God, H. I switched rooms with Trent, I think you can tell me that without so much secrecy."

He sounds much more exasperated than he intends to, but he is tired and just wants to sleep without Trent's knee slamming into his ribs.

"Please Jordan, from captain to captain."

Hendo feels his patience snap and he really, really wants to tell Harry to piss off, but Trent is staring at him with puppy eyes and even Dele and Ross are paying attention to the conversation now, so he has to keep his cool.

"I'm not the captain, remember? You said so yourself."

"Just come down, please."

"No one is going to die for switching rooms, H."

"Yes, I know but the gaffer said…"

"I don't care what the gaffer said, I care about sleeping and Trent not waking me up in tears in the middle of the night."

Trent blushes deep red and Hendo is sure he is about to argue about how he doesn't cry but Harry just gives him a dirty look that says, 'this isn't over' and drags the defender back into their room. Jordan falls back into the bed in a mix of relief and exhaustion.

"I didn't know the whole skipper thing got so tense," Dele says.

"It didn't. Now go to bed."

  

John can stand Mr. morally right Raheem Sterling telling him off for playing FIFA with Dele after he punched Trent.

What he can't stand is Kyle lecturing him about it too.

"I played FIFA with him, I didn't encourage him to start a Civil War."

"But we had a plan, John."

"It was a stupid plan, Kyle," John replies, mocking his tone.

"Still, we talked about this and the point was to stick together," Raheem explains, as if John was too stupid to know.

"So, the point was to bully Dele?"

"The point was to make Dele understand he can't just go around punching people and get away with it," the striker continues.

"I'm sure Dele is smart enough to notice that without everyone ignoring him as if were some kind of criminal."

"Of course, you'd say that."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" John knows exactly what Raheem means, and he feels his patience reach his limit and he has to focus incredibly hard on not losing his temper.

Raz opens his mouth to answer, but Kyle interrupts him. "Let it go, Raz."

And John is half glad, half pissed at Kyle for interrupting them.

"You don't even know what Trent did to make Dele punch him."

"Mate, no matter what he did, you can't just punch people when you are pissed!" Raheem says, exasperated.

"Of course not, but Trent's a brat and he had it coming to him for a while."

Raz looks at him as if he has gone mad while Kyle just shakes his head. He gets that he can be a bit explosive sometimes, but as far as John knows, he isn't a violent person.

"Look, I know what you are all thinking. And I'm not on Dele's side just because, as you may think, I would've punched Trent too (which I wouldn't) but because, even if his reaction was not the best, Del had every right to snap at Trent." He takes a deep breath. "Plus, we all need to stop acting as if Trent were some sort of beautiful angel who does nothing wrong, we all know him, it's not very hard to imagine that he'd attack someone and pretend he is the victim."

"Del had every right to snap at Trent meaning…?"

John stares at Kyle. If he wants to win this argument, which he does, he needs to tell them the details.

Usually, he wouldn't hesitate to use everything in his power to win an argument but he has the feeling Dele wasn't keen on telling him what happened on the first place so the whole thing feels sort of… wrong.

John groans. "Nothing. Forget it."


	2. Two

 

There seems to be no problem at all during morning practice until Dele and Trent are put in the same team for the training match and refuse to pass at each other. They make it work for a while, and almost nobody notices until Dele is in the perfect position to score and Trent decides to pass the ball to Marcus instead.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," he apologizes with a small shrug.

That's when Dele decides to join in and hell breaks loose.

After three missed shots, fourteen passes aimed at the most random places and eight lost balls, Gareth screams at them to get off the pitch.

He lectures them on team-play, maturity and leaving their issues off the field before making them ball-boys for the rest of training as a punishment.

Dele has to admit he is glad Trent is equally screamed at this time.

Being a ball-boy while the others are having fun in a practice game sucks, but at least Dele manages to make it a tad more interesting by competing with Trent on who can get the most left-over balls for the sake of pissing him off. Literally no one else would have gone along with it, but this is Trent. He wins by just one ball and even though it's stupid, the fact that Trent is fuming because of it makes being kicked out of practice slightly more worth it. At least until they get to the changing rooms.

As soon as the others come in, Hendo moves Trent aside and (hopefully, Dele thinks) lectures him on his last wonderful move in this random war that has been going on for days.

"You've crossed the line today, Dele." He turns to Harry, who is staring at him with his arms crossed, clearly unhappy. "First you punch him and now this? Are you too good to play with Trent or how does it work, huh?"

Dele raises his eyebrows at Harry, a bit confused by what's happening.

It's clearly not the reaction Harry wants because it only angers him more.

"I want an answer, Bamidele."

And God he just hates his full name so much and how high and mighty Harry has been acting these past days, it takes all he's got not to tell him to fuck off.

"Okay, don't ever call me that again," he says, glaring at him. "And I think it's clear who started it and that we are both to blame for what happened today-"

Harry interrupts him. "Oh, okay, I forgot that if you didn't start it you are absolutely free of blame."

Dele feels his ears redden in anger. "That's not what I said-"

"Christ Harry, is everything Dele's fault in here?"

Everyone turns to stare at John.

And it's true that Dele has been less ignored today (especially by the City guys and Chilly who has given up doing whatever it was they were doing) but that didn't mean someone was going to actually stand up for him.

"Pardon?"  Harry asks, clearly in shock.

Everyone has stopped doing what they were doing and turned their attention to them. Even Trent and Hendo are watching the scene from the corner of the room. Eric approaches Harry and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, while Kyle grabs John by the wrist and whispers in his ear to calm down.

"Oh, you've heard me," John says, scoffing. "Dele punched Trent _three days ago_ and he has clearly done nothing else wrong since! Well, except maybe this one practice game… But you need to let it go. You are not some guardian angel and not everything is black or white."

"John, I think you might want to go outside and calm down."

He is about to lose it by then, because there's nothing that annoys John more than someone telling him to calm down when he is perfectly calm.

"Piss off."

"John, I'm not telling you again," Harry warns, clearly annoyed.

"And then what you are going to do, huh? You can't physically hurt me after getting all uppity about Dele punching Trent!"

"It's not just about the punch, John," he sighs, as if not believing how hard it is for the defender to understand. "It's about how it affects the team and how we need to stick up for each other instead of fighting all the time about stupid nonsense."

"Like you and Hendo over the captaincy?"

That leaves Harry wordless for a bit, and John almost thinks he's got it.

"Me and Jordan have absolutely no problem with the captaincy, he knows I respect him as a leader, but Gareth has made a choice…"

"Isn't that nice? Hey, Hendo aren't you happy Harry respects you as a leader but insists on reminding you you're not the captain?"

All eyes turn to Hendo, who grimaces like he has just eaten something sour.

"Just please leave me out of this lads," he begs, rubbing his eyes.

"He doesn't look very happy Harry, does he?" John insists.

Harry takes a deep breath. "Sort your own issues out before trying to lecture others Stonesy."

Then he grabs his towel and starts walking towards the showers, putting an end to the argument, and leaving a very shocked team behind.

Somehow, Picks manages to drag an incredibly pissed John out of the room before he murders Harry. Kyle and Raz run after them.

 

"John's right tho," Trent tells Hendo after a while. "Harry keeps reminding you he is the captain, it's not exactly nice."

"I don't care about him being the captain, Trent." 

"I know, but that doesn't mean he can just remind you at every second of the day…"

The older lad looks up from his bag, clearly exhausted and not wanting to have this conversation, and eyes Trent seriously.

"Harry is on your side Trent, make up your mind."

And that leaves the right-back speechless for a while.

 

Jordan Pickford throws John Stones on the nearest patch of grass he can find in front of the changing rooms.

"Fuck Stonesy, my shins are going to be all bruised after all that stupid kicking."

"Should have thought about it better before carrying me out of the changing rooms like I were a sack of potatoes or something."

"And let you murder Harry and most likely get kicked out of the team? Sure, that works."

John glares at him from his spot on the grass. Right then, Kyle and Raheem appear from behind Picks, with mixed expressions of shock, awe and anger.

"What the hell John!?" Raz asks, not believing what he's just witnessed.

Kyle, on the other hand, completely ignores John and stares at Picks in a mix of awe and shock. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" The goalkeeper replies with a raised eyebrow.

"Carry him outside. How did you do it?"

Jordan shrugs. "He isn't that heavy."

"Can you not talk about me as if I wasn't here?" John asks, flailing his arms in indignation.

"Can you answer Raheem's question? What the hell has gotten into you?" Picks repeats.

"Into me!? What the hell has gotten into Harry you mean."

"We know what has gotten in Harry, John," Kyle says, in that scolding but soft tone he deserves especially for him. It makes John blush. "Harry wants to be this wonderful captain and is doing what he thinks it's best… even if that turns out to be a complete mess."

John rolls his eyes.

"You aren't exactly wrong, but the manners definitely are," Raheem clarifies, now a bit calmer.

"That's just because he is rude," Kyle points out, smirking at John.

The defender manages a small smile and stretches to sit back on his hands.

"But Harry needs to chill."

Picks, Kyle and Raz nod in agreement, and John sighs. "And so, do I."

"Oh, definitely, because next time you kick me like today, you and I will have a chat."

"You wouldn't beat me in a fight in your best dreams Pickford."

"Do you want to go, Stonesy?"

 

Dele sits quietly next to Eric at lunch. The latter can clearly tell he didn't take the changing room events very well but decides it's better to let it be; Del will tell him if he feels like it after all.

"What the hell is in this soup?"

Eric looks at Dele, who is stirring the bowl of soup with a disgusted face. "It's vegetables, Delboy."

Dele eyes him as if he has gone mad. "Thanks genius, I hadn't realized." He rolls his eyes. "The combination or whatever is just disgusting, tho."

He says it so angrily, Eric knows he has to forget about his plan before something else happens.

"I don't think your problem is with the soup, Del."

"Isn't it? Would you care to enlighten me on what my problem is then? Please, professor Diet."

Eric chuckles. He knows Dele only uses big words like enlighten to impress him, and, despite everything, he can't help but find it endearing.

"Pretty sure you already know."

Dele stops picking at his soup and stares right into his eyes. He has pretty brown eyes, in Eric's opinion, and the scar in his eyebrow makes him look like the troublemaker he acts as. Everybody, including Dele himself, knows the attitude is just a façade he uses to cover up his insecurities. The rest of the team usually buy it, because Dele is in fact really strong-tempered, but Eric  _always_ knows what's behind.

"I'm fine."

"Clearly not."

"I'm fine," Dele insists, a bit louder this time.

It makes Eric chuckle sadly. "Of course, Delboy, whatever you want."

 

Dele is close to falling asleep in a sofa in the lounge when Trent appears from nowhere, radiating energy and whining like always.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere, where the hell have you been?”

Dele sits up groggily and looks at Trent in confusion. It has been a horrendous day and he just wants to fall asleep and forget about it. ‘Fucking H’ he thinks.

“I’ve been here since lunch.”

“Oh,” the defender says simply. Then, he looks around nervously, biting his lip. “Can we go outside?”

Dele sighs, but he’s too exhausted to even complain, and although he wants to say no (because the last thing he needs today is Trent) he agrees.

Despite only being a year and a few months younger, Dele has never realized how young and insecure Trent looks. And how, under all that raw talent, he is probably really scared of not being good enough and what the others would think

“So?” Del asks, resting against the wall and looking at Trent expectantly.

“I want to apologize.”

And, okay, Dele was expecting many things except that one. “What?”

“I want to apologize,” Trent repeats, more firmly. “What I said was really mean and wrong and completely out of place, and I love my family and it’s probably a very soft spot for you and I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry.”

Dele has to take some time to process the information, because after three days he has started to think that Trent was never going to apologize and that things between him and the rest of the team (excluding Eric) would always be tense.

He has to admit it: Trent apologizing is such a huge relief he even feels tears prickling behind his eyes.

“I’m sorry too,” he says, completely honestly. He has never been very good at admitting mistakes or handling his feelings but apologizing back to Trent feels nice. “I should have never punched you. I lost it and it was way over the line.”

Trent shrugs. “Meh, I probably deserved it.”

Dele can’t resist but chuckling.

“So… we are okay?” the right-back asks a bit unsurely, holding his hand out for Dele to shake.

The midfielder takes it. “We’re okay.”

 

If they were to hold a competition, it would be hard to pick who was more surprised to find Dele and Trent on the same couch, playing FIFA together and acting as if nothing ever happened.

“Is this seat taken?” Hendo asks Eric, pointing at the empty armchair next to him.

Eric lifts his head from his book and shakes his head. Jordan sits down with the most relieved and proud look Eric has ever seen. “You look happy,” he points out.

“Can you hear it?”

Eric rises his eyebrow in confusion. “Hear what?”

“Nothing, because I’m here alone while Trent is on the other side of the room _with Dele._ ”

Eric bursts out laughing. “Yeah, good point.”

“Worst four days of my life, I swear."

“Tell me about it."

Eric goes back to his book while Hendo just lays back on his seat, relaxing as much as he can and focusing on things that are not Trent. He finds it a bit harder than he would like to admit.

After a while, Eric looks up from his book again and stares at him. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“You aren’t going to like it.”

“I do a lot of things I don’t like, Eric.”

The Spurs midfielder shrugs. “You and Harry… are you sure you lads are okay?”

Jordan rubs his eyes. Of all the questions he could have been asked, that is probably the one he likes the less.

“I’m okay at least.”

“So, you didn’t want to be skipper?”

He wants to lie and repeat what he has been telling the team since Gareth announced the names of the captains, but he has the feeling Eric isn’t going to buy it like the others do (or at least say they do).

“It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s what Gareth feels it’s best for the team.”

“You don’t think it’s the best for the team?”

Jordan analyzes quickly what he has said and realizes it sounded a bit worse than he intended. He curses at himself internally. “I didn’t mean that, I-” he stops himself because he did mean it, he is just too worried of what the others will think he has been lying to himself the whole week they’ve been here. “I don’t know Eric, but it is what it is and being angry about it won’t make it better.”

Eric decides to let it go because Jordan looks close to breaking down and he knows that when that happens, the whole team will break down with him.

 

“I thought you hated each other,” Ross points out when Trent moves back into the room.

“We made up,” the right-back explains, proudly. 

“Took you long enough.”

Dele chuckles but Trent looks down-right offended. He tells him Ross says it without any menace and even though he doesn’t look very convinced, he lets it go.

 

The joke carries on all evening.  


End file.
